The Commonwealth Rises
by heavyneos
Summary: An au for s2 Andromeda, two of the largest most powerful ships ever constructed disappeared in slip space after wiping out the lynx pride now they will help the commonwealth rise.
1. Chapter 1

They were losing the war badly every day to the fleet and armies of the Nietzscheans, the high guard moved into production two ships, the _Admiral Hood_ and _Admiral Bismarck_. They were big, ugly and armed to the teeth with weapons that made the Glorious heritage classes look like a slip fighter, there class name held none of the gaudiness of the regular ships; they were simply known as super heavy battle ship. They didn't have many of the sleek lines of the Glorious heritage classes, they held a sharp violent look from every angle, and they were so large that you could comfortably hold half of a Glorious heritage class in their main hangers.

They had a long center piece that had sloping armor that got wider as you reached the main body of the ship. Like the GH class (the Glorious heritage class) it had wings although more angular, there dorsal and ventral hulls had three super heavy PDM turrets each with duel cannons of beam weapons effective for well over 1600.60k although slow to lock and fire when they did they would destroy almost everything they hit, they had two of these turrets on the wings they had 500 om-dm missile 500 PDM 500w turrets. They also held at least sixty nova bombs.

They held enough fighters for total space superiority in any system they entered. With enough support craft to keep the ships active for centuries if need be. Although both ships were immense in size and cost they could be piloted and crewed with as few as six people, the computer and artificial intelligence had to be made especially for the ship with computing power that was unrivaled to date. They both held whole legions of Ai controlled robots that mimicked organic intelligence so closely that it was almost startling. The engines for each were massive they opened slip portals so large that the turbulence would cause such damage to any craft smaller than a freighter would be seriously damaged.

As the last of their munitions was loaded and the Ai's were fully tested and installed the unthinkable happened massive slip space portals opened unleashing the full Nietzschean fleet of the lynx pride. As high guardsmen scrambled to their defensive positions to defend the dock yard the two Ais were communicating. Unbeknownst to either the Nietzscheans or the High Guard the two Ai's had run several thousand projections of the battle now commencing each projection held no hope for the high guard unless they stepped in.

The high guardsmen watched in awed silence as the massive armada of ships came at them; fear was so rampant and filled the air so much that you could taste it. The twin ships cut the mooring lines and powered their engines, moving forward at a staggering pace for their size they cleared the docks and entered the fray. The Guardsmen watched as there hope came to their rescue.

That's when things got interesting all the ships offensive and defensive weapons came online the huge Turrets turning onto their first target. Luckily the Nietzscheans came from the perfect direction to face the ships broad sides, they unleashed there first devastating salvo. Hundreds of ships dropped in the first blast the main turrets firing twenty blasts of energy taking out the main Nietzschean command ships.

They kept firing until a relief force of 300 ships came and evacuated the Guardsmen, the commonwealth ships fought their way through the lynx ships and to slip points, and in a flash they were gone. The twin ships stayed behind to cover their retreat unleashing a hell upon the Lynx pride that broke them forever, they left no ship intact enough to support life forever ending that pride the two ships opened a slip portal and disappeared into history, the battle was forever spoken of in legend the wrecked ships of the lynx pride had disappeared and the two ships were only thought to be myth equal only to the Andromeda herself.

_Screams of a billion murdered Stars  
>Give lie to the night's Peace<em>

_While we cling in desperation to the Few  
>Fragile spinning stones we call Worlds<em>

Wayfinder First Order Hasturi  
>aka "The Mad Perseid"<br>217 AFC

300 years later the Andromeda was in dire straits, she was being attacked by the Magog two of her crew missing the rest severely wounded, and unbeknownst to the rest of the crew she was transmitting the commonwealth distress signal. As the swarm ships began to pierce through the hull and invaded, Andromeda was losing hope she was on the verge of crying, she had led another crew to their ultimate doom because of a sealed and dormant memory program and the relentless Magog, until she received a strange transmission.

Strange because not only that it was a commonwealth transmission, but the nature of the transmission was also strange, it was an old bugle cavalry charge and the William Tell overture finally, then the transmission shifted to all communications frequencies and over the ships PA and on all her communications channels.

On every deck the Magog stopped and looked around for the source of the noise. Andromeda's sensors began to show two massive slip points opening she could hardly believe her own sensors as the twin colossal ships came into full view.

All the weapons on the ships opened up on the Magog, decimating there swarms witch made them a more direct target for the Magog, and making sure that Andromeda was no longer a target. Swarm after swarm attacked the two ships their weapons cutting grate swaths within the numerical advantage that they held. Until the Magog retreated to lick their wounds before attacking again. When they pulled back the twin ships opened communications with Andromeda.

Her screens turned on amid the static haze she saw two identical men each in a variant of high guard uniform she had only seen once before at her launching, they wore the red and gold tunic of admirals in the high guard navy. They were both of Anglo-Saxon decent both had startlingly blue eyes the difference between the two only in hair on was a brunette the other was blond.

"Ahoy there Andromeda" said brown haired one in a heavy rough British accent

"Hallo meine Schwester" said the blond in deep Berlin German (Hello my sister)

"I see you have been holed dashed unsporting to attack a lady"

"Ich stimme mit meinem verrückten Bruder überein, der am unverzeihlichsten ist" (I agree with my crazy brother that is most unforgivable)

"allow us to deal with these rapscallions"

"Sie sind kaum der Bruder von rapscallion; wir werden diese Ungeheuer bestrafen und werden uns unsere Schwestern verlorene Ehre rächen" (they are hardly rapscallion's brother; we shall punish these monsters and avenge our sisters lost honor)

And with that the two began to move at flank speed towards the Magog ships firing all weapons at them. But more and more came from the world ship to take their place.

Andromeda watched as the two colossal ships attacked the relentless Magog, leaving her alone with a swarm ships attached to her hull, at the suggestion of Trance who asked about external defences she activates her planetary battle mechs tweedle-dumb and tweedle-de to clear her hull.

She then launches a few of her androids to collect Dylan and Beka, the two colossal ships still slaughtering swarm ships.

(Inside the Andromeda)

Dylan slowly awoke his eyes blurring then focusing on the closest thing to him witch happened to be his first officer Beka Valentine

"Front and centre soldier" she teased as his head turned moving his hand in a salute before wiping his face he hurt all over

"Captain Dylan Hunt reporting for duty" he moved to sit up the world spinning slightly

"Not a moment too soon" she said concern filtering into her voice

"You see I fixed him" said the overly energetic voice of Trance, causing his head to pound

"Yeah well more or less" he said straining into a sitting position "what hit me?" he asked not remembering what had happened

"About half the command centre the ship was pounded by point singularity bombs were lucky she is more or less in one piece" then it hit him

"The Magog" he remembered them boarding and getting hit with something

"On the run for now" said the robotic voice of Romme her damaged body emitting a robotic whine as she moved her voice doubling making the internal damage more apparent "I've deployed tweedle-dumb and tweedle-de to finish them"

"How are the lads" he asked as he got to his feet

"Efficient they have driven off the first wave of assault ships" she said standing at ease

"Yeah but the Magog can always send more" he finally felt more solid on his feet "the Magog suck" Grabbing a blue uniform he made his way to the bridge clearing out any Magog they found, at the bridge one Magog was launched through the opening door.

The command deck was a mess there were gaping holes in the hull wiring and piping was dangling from the sealing only certain parts were still intact, screens were flashing on and off as power sporadically reaching them, Dylan threw a collection of broken cabled and piping haphazardly away, never had he seen a ship this damaged before. The main screens were fuzzy with static which was slowly clearing up to reveal two colossal war ships that came to their rescue blasting apart ship after ship

"What are they" he asked Andromeda

"They are ZX-01-001 and ZX-01-002 _Admiral Hood _and_ Admiral Bismarck_ super heavy battle ships the only in their class" a fuzzy image appeared which was the layout of their weapons

"How do you know that?" asked Beka

"They told me" she simply stated

Raising his eye brow slightly pushing the information given to the back of his mind he got on with the plan that was formulating in his mind.

"Ok hears the plan while those two keep the Magog busy Romme and myself will take the Maru down and retrieve Harper, Tyr and Rev. Romme have the immune system nanobots we gave the crew built up to a level where you can track them"

"Trances don't scream to be working but I'm getting a clear signal from Beka's" she turned to Beka who looked to Dylan

"You have tracing devices on us" he stated accusingly

"Downloading signal parameters'" ignoring Beka she closed her eyes to concentrate on the download

"So while you two are playing hero what am I supposed to do" she asked folding her arms irritably

Dylan moved to his command position then spoke as casually as someone talking about the weather

"There is a nova bomb in the weapons locker five; if we're not back in three hours I want you to launch it at the middle of the artificial sun in the Magog array and blow it to hell."

"You are still carrying nova bombs I thought" Trance spoke in a harsh voice before she was interrupted

"I used them all up at Hephaestus, I did but I was able to scavenge one from GS-92196 just in case" he said as he was programming something on his console

"Wait there been a Nova bomb on for months and Tyr didn't know about it? Gosh won't he be surprised" she spoke that last part sarcastically knowing that Tyr would blow his top when he found out.

"If we're still on the world ship when that bomb goes off he will be more than surprised he'll be dead and so will you Dylan" Dylan stopped then turned to his android companion

"Well we will just haft to be in time wont we" he turned back to his console "Andromeda release all nova bomb controls to Beka Valentine authorisation ten brake alpha" he didn't weight fore response from Andromeda he turned to face Beka "three hours not a second more" he called Romme to him and left the command deck maybe for the last time.

"Tell me he is going to make it" Beka asked Trance

"It is possible anything is possible right" Trance looked up to Beka

"Right" she conformed for her younger friend

Meanwhile in space the Magog swarms were in full retreat hoping to catch both ships in a trap but neither fell for it and kept their distance but were still well within the maximum range for their cannons, narrowly dodging point singularity bombs shot from the world ship.

Inside the world ship Tyr and Harper were in deep trouble, they had been fixed to the wall Shamus Harper slowly came to his head was pounding

"Aw man" as his eyes came into focus he began to realise he was no longer on Andromeda "Tyr" he said in a week voice "Tyr are you ok" he was panicking slightly his voice came out higher than usual, then pain in his gut something was moving alive inside of him, then her realised what it was Magog eggs. His nightmare and that of many other beings, inside him are incubating growing Magog eggs and when they hatched they would tear their way out of him. "Oh no, no, no, no not the eggs they didn't infest me with Magog eggs" trying with all his might to will it true, "Help" he tried to scream which came out as a strangled yelp "help somebody anybody oh god please" he tried to force himself free "Help" he screamed his voice echoing in the dank cavern he and Tyr were held in.


	2. Chapter 2

In the Andromeda things were going allot better as two Magog were put down by Dylan and Romme as they entered a new corridor Dylan was now in full combat gear armour and goggles to protect his eyes from the flash of his weapons.

"Another victory for the good guys" said Dylan

"Internal defences are back online" Came the voice of Andromeda

They continued on their way to the main hanger that housed the Maru

Mean while in the World ship Rev had reverted to his true Magog state after killing a higher ranking Magog he inherited his position and Armour, he saw his brother eating another Magog and felt the blood lust.

"Your eating one of your own" he said getting the attention of another Magog

"Grate one" he said looking back at the dead Magog "not ours it's bile throat brood we catch it alone, it weak" he said then looking at Rev "grate one want his share?" he asked

Rev felt his blood boil he wanted to taste blood on his lips he wanted to tear flesh he could feel they want and need for it. He was tempted so tempted but

"No, no you earned it eat your fill" he felt disgusted with himself one of the Magog came at him

"Grate one not want food?" he asked

"No" he shouted the other Magog began to advance on him, sniffing the air

"Grate one not smell right" another sniffed

"Grate one refuse food, smell like machine, smell like pray" the others advanced on him

"Stay back" he warned

"Maybe grate ship have traitor on board, is smell like you" he roared as the other two charged at him

On the Andromeda Beka was attaching cables and tubes witch cleaned up the signal on the main screen in time to watch the Maru depart,

"Maru is away" said Andromeda

"Show me that thing again" ordered Beka the screen changed from the retreating for of the Maru to a full view of the world ship, you could also make out the two ships still firing on ships and planets as one dodged another bomb barely the colossal ship turned at a staggering pace the bomb denting the hull plating as it passed perilously close to the hull. "A year ago I was running spare parts from Canopy to San Scott Ray, now I'm sitting in the middle of the apocalypse"

"Well look on the bright side, the world ship is heading to the known worlds anyway, before you just didn't know about it now you can face it head on" she said smiling

"That is such a warship thing to say" laughing slightly

In space closest to the eleventh planet on the world ship the Hood and Besmirch were slowly falling back, just enough to force the swarm ships to leave the relative safety of the world ships defence umbrella, there plan was also underway.

Somewhere deep inside the world ship Shamus Harper was still panicking, yanking his arms testing the strength of his bonds,

"Tyr, aw man don't be dead please don't be dead" he was panicking so badly we was losing breath "I mean crap even I'm alive, and I'm just a pathetic little thing right? You your a, a _**Nietzschean**_ your an uber"

"Don't ever call me that" said Tyr in a slightly week voice

"I knew it, I knew it, and I knew you were alive" he laughed slightly

"Yes I am alive and trying to make our opponents forget about us" he said in a slightly scolding tone

"You want to make them feel over confident, then I have an idea why not let them paralyze us bind us to the wall and then infect us with their Magog eggs, o gee we did that already did that now we have them right where we want them" he said sarcastically

"Your little melodrama in not going to make things any better"

"No" he acknowledged "but it's not going to make things any worse" he said panicky rising in his words "you wanna know why" panicky and terror already filling his now almost shouting voice "because they couldn't BE any worse"

"We could be unconscious" he listed "or dead we are nether"

"Oh grate" he said looking down to his gut "now we get to be awake when the eggs hatch and little Magog larval eat their way out of us, your right that's much better"

"When your parents combined there DNA the odds of creating someone with your precise genetic pattern was in the order of ten million to one, factor in the chance of your parents growing to adult hood meeting and actually bothering to procreate and your existence has the likely hood of drawing a royal flush three times in a row in a completely honest poker, if you have already overcome those odds once who's to say you can't do it again"

"Yeah, yeah I know there's always hope, even if faint, miniscule, microscopic, virtually undetectable hope, but hope none the less"

"Shut up and let me think"

In another part of the world ship, but as close as they could get the Maru is touching down,

"Sure were close enough?" Dylan asked his companion

"As close as we can get by ship" stated Romme going over her calculations and rescanning to be sure "they are approximately four kilometres striate down"

"Four kilometres, I keep forgetting how huge this place is" as he powered down the systems

"Hmm twenty worlds joined into a single structure manipulated by artificial gravity powered by an artificial sun" she said arms folded "I guess its true what they say no matter how big or strong you are there is always someone larger, I just never thought it would apply to me"

"Scared" he asked knowing the answer

"Terrified" she answered.

In space Hood and Bismarck were dominating the swarms and had pulled back to maximum weapons range there plan was succeeding the Magog swarms had left the safety of the world ships umbrella, they were able to fully unload the ordinance, with that complete they now had total space superiority around the world ship, no swarms or fighters dared to exit there defence umbrella.

Knowing that it was secure the two ships moved in a defensive formation around the Andromeda and opened communications.

Inside the command deck Beka was surprised to see two men in high guard uniform in two separate monitors.

"Ahoy Andromeda we have total space superiority around the world ship" came the voice from the brunet man,

"Ja haben uns wir Ihre verlorene Ehre liebe Schwester gerächt; wir haben die Mischlinge bezahlen für Herabsetzen Sie gemacht" (Yes we have avenged your lost honour dear sister; we made the mongrels pay for slighting you) said the brown haired man.

"Now allow our repair ships to fix you up as good as new" said the brunet

The two vessels launched a mobile dock that completely encompassed the Andromeda, like two giant hands that touched tip to tip locking into place. Tubes came out of the finger like walls and connected with the Andromeda in each damaged or holed section. Large amounts of what appeared to be liquid metal were poured into the damaged ship via the tubes, the liquid metal had enough nano bots init to fix the Andromeda twice over but better safe than sorry, the excess would be used to restock the Andromeda's own depleted repair systems.

Starting at the outer hull and the severe damage it took about ten minutes to completely repair the hull of all damage another ten to sort out the decks and deal with any leftover over organic matter like bodies. Beka had to go into the medical bay with Trance for ten minutes as the nanobots did their work. Unfortunately they had to shut down certain systems including communications

Mean while inside the world ship Dylan and Romme were seeking out there friends,

"Dylan I can't raise myself" she paused at how absurd it sounded "I can't raise the ship" Dylan looked down at his wrist communicator hearing only static

"Too much interference" he stated as he opened the weapons locker "looks like we're on our own" grabbing another force lance and slotting it into his left holster "how long until Beka fires the nova bomb?"

"Two hours twenty one minuets" she stated

"Good up date me every ten minutes" he said as he led Romme out into the catacombs of one of the planets.

In the Andromeda Beka and trance were free from cryo and were now back in the fully restored command deck she had just witnessed what had happened to the last crew who came with her.

Meanwhile Rev was in the fight of his life against three Magog, the fight was savage but ended when Rev ripped the throat out of the last Magog. He roared triumphantly at his dead enemies but as soon as the blood lust faded he was disgusted with himself, crying out in anguish witch lefty him open to the leader of the Magog to manipulate.

Dylan and Romme were making their way through the maze of catacombs that were the home of the monstrous Magog. Blasting the Magog that seemed to come out of every shadow and wall, they were on their turf now.

"Can you pin point their exact location" he asked

"To within one hundred meters" she stated,

"Let's give this a try" he said bringing his wrist communicator "Harper can you hear me"

"Boss you, you got to get us out of here" squawked the panicked voice of Shamus Harper

"Were within a hundred meters make noise so we can find you" closing his eyes to concentrate "this way" he said leading them down another abyss and to their friends.

On the Andromeda time was running out they needed to make their attack run now.

"We have been out of contact for two hours" she stated

"Big sister is right there is a possibility that they are dead" said the brown haired AI.

"That's not a possibility" stated Beka

"Beka if we don't stop this thing we risk the lives of all the lives in the known worlds" said Andromeda

"This is not what I sign up for" she sighed in defeat

"This isn't what anyone signed on for but it is what the situation is" she said angrily "what would the commanding officer like to do"

Beka let out a sigh she couldn't see a way out this had to be done

"Arm the nova bomb" on the screen a green light signalled the arming procedure.

Andromeda moved at flank speed followed by the two war ships,

"Code ten brake alpha strike, strike, strike" spoke Andromeda using Dylan's code

"Arming nova one execution code nine five over seven blue five, arm" stated Beka giving the final arming code. Green lights lit up the screen signalling full armament. "Come on Dylan, now's the time" she hoped that he was already on his way.

Deep in the caverns

"Five minutes left Dylan we aren't going to make it"

"This place is a maze" he said searching for the source again the ducked down another cavern.

At the heart of the planet Rev was taken by the Magog leader to the place where the abyss spoke to the Magog.

"This, this is the home of your god" Rev spat in disgust

"This is where the spirit of the abyss manifest itself if it so chooses" spoke the leader reverence in his voice. "Is not the divine in all things" he stated pointed to a figure made of fire

"I, I, I, I can feel its hatred" he spoke in fear and aw

"Isn't it wonderful" spoke the leader in Revs ear "dose it fill you consume you and under the hatred beneath it feel what lies beyond"

"Love, underneath the hatred is love" he spoke in an astonished shaken voice "I understand now life is suffering chaos but there is another way" he spoke in understanding

"Harmony of transcendence of death" spoke the leader as the shadow man opened his arms and disappeared, Rev dropped to his knees.

"There is so much more to learn I am humble, I am humble" he prayed

"Fear not Red Plague" he placed his clawed hands on Rev's shoulders "I will teach you" Rev grabbed his hand like it was the only lifeline in the world

"I, I thank you" he said grabbing the hand and kissing it "I almost forgot my other friends"

"What of them" he spoke in distain

"Will you take me to them?" he smiled "that I might offer them transcendence"


	3. Chapter 3

Shamus harpers through was getting hoarse but he dared not let up. Tyr was also shouting and roaring whenever he stopped. They heard distinct feet falls of two people

"That hast to be them" he though aloud "DYLAN" he shouted as they came closer he had managed to get one arm free, he though his rescuers were almost there he felt elated but as they due near that elation became dread as two Magog came and re fastened his arm to the wall, the two grabbed him which gave Tyr enough time to kick one in the face knocking it down and out, he wrapped his strong legs around its neck and broke it.

"You never told me your feet were free" Shamus squawked in outrage

"I wanted it to be a surprise"

Hearing there friends suddenly go scient Dylan and Romme doubled their pace in the direction they thought right. Only to come to a dead end

"There are thousands of tunnels" stated Romme as they looked down to the bottomless chasm.

"You think they would have signs" he gasped out trying to regain but to no avail across the gap came blasts from a group of Magog. "Take cover" Dylan and Romme ducked back into the cave, getting cover before firing back. "Magog with guns? It just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?" he Grabbed Romme by the arm "come on" they ran down another cave.

In space the three high guard ships were getting closer and closer to the nova deployment range

"How much closer do we need to be to deploy the nova bomb?"

"We can do it from hear but they would have a long time to shoot it down I want to close another thirty LS" stated Andromeda all three ships weapons sweeping for targets

"Are we really going to drop it?" asked Trance

"Trance I'm in way over my head" Beka said not taking her eyes off the screen

"That's what happens in life" she said with concern for her friend "we keep going and going until we've gone too far and haft to deal with it"

Andromeda chimed in with her own words of encouragement

"The important thing to remember is that Dylan trusted you with command" she stated simply "he believes in you and so do I"

"Me too"

With her friends behind her Beka felt more steady in Command like she could do this

Inside the catacombs Dylan and Romme were running into more resistance from the Magog

"Another squad, rifles" stated Romme

"Don't they have any respect for tradition" stated Dylan irritably "whatever happened to just clawing us to death" he shouted as he activated the second force lance

"Dylan if we aren't going to make it" before she could finish

"Don't" he said simply "please don't say it Romme" his voice slightly tender towards his ships avatar

"If we're going to die" she stated as a blast hit the wall next to her

"We are not going to die" he said tenderly to her as he stared into her hazel eyes "captain's orders"

In space Andromeda had reached optimum firing range

"Andromeda set maximum PSL on my mark I want you and the other two to fire everything you have I want everything we got missiles, drones, AP guns, lasers everything"

"Beka conventional weapons won't put a dent in that thing" stated Andromeda

"You have your orders" said Beka in a tone that brokered no argument she walked to her pilots controls grabbing one of the sticks "and Mark" moving at maximum speed the three ships unleashed there weapons of death at the world ship, energy blast light up the sky as brightly as the artificial sun.

In one of the numerous caves Dylan and Romme were falling back into cover as another squad opened up on them,

"You ready" he asked his companion

"Don't worry about me" she said as she continued to blast away at the Magog forces, a rumble almost knocked Dylan to the floor "what's that" she asked with concern for her other self.

"Starters gun" he mumbled gruffly "go Now" he shouted as they darted away from the Magog.

In another cave Shamus had finally gotten himself free he felt like dancing

"I can't believe it I'm" he was cut off by the sound of a rifle powering up

"I believe the word you are looking for is dead" Shamus put his hands up as the Magog leader with Rev slowly began to advance, the leader stopped and Rev stepped forward

"Rev?" Shamus couldn't believe what was happening Rev his friend was acting like a true Magog, Rev growled menacingly as he walked to words Shamus,

In space the three war ships have entered the defence umbrella of the world ship, swarm ships begin to attack the three ships but the two lager war ships drawing most of the fire leaving Andromeda with less and less ships to defend her against.

"We've go there attention now but the Hood and Bismarck are drawing the majority of the swarms"

"Good, now I want you to vent your atmosphere, dump your water tanks and dump every piece of crap from the holds, I want as many targets for them as possible"

"Venting, dumping and tossing captain" smiled Andromeda

"There firing those black whole things at us again" shouted Trance as main defensive and offensive weapon of the world ship,

"Prepare to fire Andromeda" shouted Beka

"Nova bomb is away" said Andromeda

"Impact in ten, nine, eight," said the voice of Trance echoed around the cavern that Dylan and Romme were. In another cavern the countdown was reaching zero and Shamus was watching his old friend stalking closer to him. "Seven, six, five, four"

"Rev" he said unsure in how to respond to the new Rev

"Three"

"My name is Red Plague" his hand close to Tyr's face

"Two"

"And I do what I must"

"One impact"

The nova bomb impacted the sun causing a massive solar expansion, inside the ship grate amounts of Magog were incinerated instantly. Taking a run Dylan and Romme jumped into the massive chasm at the centre of the planet in space the three war ships were jostled with extreme turbulence from the explosion. Inside Beka was crying thinking she had just killed her friends.

"Dylan I am so sorry"

From the outside the planets looked like they were burning from the inside out, in the core the abyss avatar was surrounded by fire as the son expanded. As the explosion dissipated, Beka and the reaming crew onboard the Andromeda saw the imposable not only had the ship survived intact but the machine connection between the planets were completely intact

"That's imposable" shouted Beka at the screen "tell me that's imposable"

"I don't know" for the first time Andromeda didn't know what had happened, all she did know was that that world ship should have been destroyed. "I just don't know"

"It's not imposable just really unfair" said Trance astonished and awed at the sight of the untouched world ship.

"Andromeda come back around now"

In the planet Dylan had landed badly hurting his ankle, scanning his ankle Romme gave him the bad news.

"It's broken"

"Yeah forget my leg" he planted in pain "was that what I think it was?"

"Elevated radiation levels, EMP-rays, X-rays, Gamma-rays, oscillating neutrinos, it was a nova" she stated turning back to Dylan astonished "we lived through a nova"

"Told you we wouldn't die" he said smiling slightly

In another cavern Shamus and Tyr were also rocked by the explosion,

"Fools" spat the lead Magog "they thought that they could defeat us so easily, understand now Red Plague, everything is possible for the harbingers of the Abyss"

"Yes I understand" said Rev "but then I understood all along" he turned fast and stabbing strait through the heart of the lead Magog "behold the fiery beast with razor tail that cuts through mountings, and tramples castles down, inhale the stench that makes the whole world wail"

"But witch of us is the beast me my master or you" said the Magog leader as he spat up blood

Tyr chuckled slightly

"A Magog quoting Dante"

"Guys can we get the hell out of here now"

In space the Magog world ship still appeared to be burning and in the bowls of the ship the avatar of the Abyss was being blasted by flames.

As the trio of one Human one Nietzschean and one repentant Magog, made their way down one of the passages, until movement within Harper began to cause him grate pain, the Magog eggs were moving inside of him. The small rest they had brought them face to face with a rifle squad of Magog, who looked ready to fire when blasts from nowhere hit them.

"I know of only one man idiotic enough to rescue three dead men in a Magog hive" said Tyr and he wasn't disappointed from a nearby alcove came the limping form of Captain Dylan hunt leaning on his android counterpart

"Yep, that's me Captain Idiot" he said waving his force lance at them "now I don't know about you but I want to get the hell out of hear"

In space the three ships pulled back enough for the swarm ships to over extend themselves making them easy prey for their guns, the three sat there waiting for more ships to come, in the Magog world ship Rev was leading the crew out, when they finally reached the Maru they were confronted with the spirit of the abyss, it launched two fireballs than vanished, they made for the Maru

In space the Magog were attacking with a savagery that was new to them they wanted revenge, all three ships were unloading death like they never had before, their weapons were at the verge of overheating when they detected a launch from the planet, the Maru was taking damage from swarm ships, only to be saved by the Andromeda, as soon as the ship was recovered all three jumped to a safe system.

Captain Hunt walked back onto the command deck as Beka dropped the Andromeda out of slip space, followed closely by the colossal Commonwealth ships.

As the Andromeda came to a standstill he opened communications to the two ships, before he could say anything he was cut off the brunette man

"So you are our beloved sisters captain" sizing up Captain Hunt "you don't look like much, what you think Otto" acknowledging his brother

"Nein macht er Bruder nicht aber seine Aufzeichnung spricht für sein Selbst" (No he doesn't brother but his record speaks for its self)

"That is true it dose" he said nodding "I hope you have been treating our sister well captain" a hint of caution in his voice

Unsure how to respond to that he just asked

"Who the heck are you two and how did you survive the fall of the commonwealth"

"I am the avatar of the Admiral Hood and you may call me Sam" spoke the brunette

"Sie dürfen mich bezeichnen als Otto ich bin der avatar des Admirals Bismarck" (You may refer to me as Otto I am the avatar of the Admiral Bismarck) blinking twice Dylan started at the two

"that's the who, now what about the how"

"well were not sure our selves we entered slip space to rejoin the fleet" said the brunette

"How Ai's can't fly slip space it's a known fact" stated Beka

"we are not conventional AI's, we were specially designed by digitally cloning a brain, the brain chosen was that of Admiral Constanza Stark, in this way that pilots instincts carried over, we are not sure how exactly and probably never will"

"so you entered slip space?" coxed Dylan

"yes we came into some strange energy turbulence, when we came out the damage to our slip core's was immense, so immense that even with our advanced repair systems it would taka centuries, being AI's we had all the time in the world, to avoid the risk of going rampant we went into sleep mode, unfortunately we didn't wake up as planned. we were to have awoken once the engines were fixed but that energy discharge in slip spaced damaged or chronometers, we were awoken our sisters distress call, once we were back on line we picked up our sisters and brothers distress beacons from all over the known worlds, Andromeda's being the closest we decided to come to her aid first" he then looked confused then asked

"you have missed the last three hundred and one years" asked Beka

"we know, we felt crawl of time even in our sleep" he said

"so we know the who and the how but what are you going to do now" asked Romme

"well we have distress calls to answer" stated the brunette

"why haven't we picked up any distress calls?" asked Dylan

"due to attacks buy The Nietzscheans on disabled ships all commonwealth distress beacons are encrypted so only our ships can find them, you haven't received the upgrade for it so you can't" stated the brunette the blond man just nodding occasionally.

"wait aren't you going to stay a while" asked Andromeda

"sorry beloved sister we have others to help keep us updated with your progress if we are going to fight the Magog again we will need a large fleet than us to do so"

"how many ships survived enough for you to help?" asked Dylan

"almost ten battle groups" stated the blond

"ten battle groups, that's fifteen hundred ships" stated an astonished Dylan

"you are correct sir, also due to the obvious lack of officers you will have to take command of the fleet"

"me" stammered Dylan "I'm just a captain I can't take command of a fleet that size I don't have the clearance"

"you do now, Commodore" stated the brunette "we haft to leave now but call us when you need us we will come and we will be bringing our extended family with us"

"good bye beloved sister" stated the brunette

"Auf Wiedersehen werden beliebte Schwester, wenn wir zurückkehren, wir die Familie mit uns bringen" (goodbye beloved sister when we return we will bring the family with us)

"if German be the language of love, we need to get that translator fix on you Otto" stated the blond as the screen went back to showing the commonwealth logo

"Heben Sie Arsch" (jack ass)

His screen also went back to showing the commonwealth logo. The two ships turned away leaving and entered slip space in a flash leaving the Andromeda alone once again.

In the space between two dead star systems the two ships exited slip space and began scanning for the source of the beacon, it didn't take them long to find.

Hidden in a nebular were ten ships all righteous fist of heaven class and all reparable they were _the Troy, Kings Crown, The Gilded Wings of Ascension, God's Fury, the Chariot of So, Wings of Pegasus, the Flames of Hades, Sirens Call, Wars Drum, Sword of Truth. _these ships were once part of a larger fleet supposed to ambush a the supply routs would begin to bleed the Nietzscheans white, unfortunately were betrayed from within.

"they are all salvageable but it's the Ai cores I am worried about we can only repair those so much" he said pondering to his brother "if worse comes to worse we could get that Harper person to give it a shot" as he placed the crew roster from the Andromeda on one of small desk next to the captains chair. "what do you think?"

"Ich denke, dass wir mit der Reparaturarbeit auf dem fortfahren sollten, das am schwersten zuerst beschädigt wird" (before voice fixed I think we should proceed with the repair work on the most heavily damaged first) his voice crackled then came through in English "that would be the Truth and Sol the next would be the Drums we can work our way out from their" his voice held a heavy Prussian accent.

"this is an new day brother; this is the day the Commonwealth shall rise from the ashes of death" said Sam as he and his brother launched the mobile dock.


	4. Chapter 4

(AN I realise that I have been spelling Rommie's name wrong and I apologise I have fixed that, also please forgive any errors in grammar I am severely Dyslexic)

It had been several months since Dylan or the crew heard from the two ships or there Ai's, in that time the commonwealth had grown by several dozen worlds for Dylan's charter, and several hundred ships and two guard stations along with one permanent ship dock hidden in a secure system that is patrolled by two fully restored battle groups.

Using the new ship dock they began to commission new ships to add to the fleet already two ships had been completed, both new in their design and function they were curser class slip carriers, they are designed as a mobile command base their main offence is the amount of slip fighters they carry their defence is twenty defence PDL turrets and defensive missiles.

The Hood and Bismarck also recovered an additional three battle group of ships out of that number just over a quarter of those recovered were salvageable, those that couldn't be salvaged had their Ai cores taken ready to be used on new ships and there parts used to salvage others. All in all things were really starting to look up.

In another system the Andromeda was in full battle mode, chasing down a target with the help of their new allies the aquatic Castaliens, the target, a single drone configured to reed as a Nietzschean destroyer, when the aquatic ships finally got into position to attack they didn't deploy any countermeasures, Dylan was on the verge of pulling his hair out as one by one the drone 'destroyed' them. Tyr haven grow tiered in this exercise in futility pressed one button launching a barrage at the drone destroying it. Dylan looked to the robotic avatar of the ship

"How bad?" he asked wiping his face in a vain attempt to wipe what he had just seen.

"The enemy destroyer was eliminated, but Castailen casualties are still high, five of their ships are down and the planet was bombarded estimated civilian casualties are five million."

"That's allot of sushi" joked Beka, Harper barely suppressing a laugh

"It's not funny Beka" scolded Dylan

"Pretty darn funny from hear" she responded Tyr also suppressing a laugh while Rommie pinched the bridge of her artificial nose.

"If you are all finished insulting our allies" he stated while Beka made a cheeky face with her tong sticking out over her top lip "the point of these exorcizes is to improve there moral not destroy it"

"Look Dylan if you think that Aquaman and the Silver Surfer are going to help against the Magog you might as well cover yourself in steak sauce and avoid the rush" noticing that no one got the reference "did you people ever go to school"

"Rommie how many target drones did you launch?" asked Beka looking perplexed at the sight before her on the screen.

"Five, why?"

"Well a ship just made its way through the entire Castalian fleet"

"And they didn't stop it what a complete surprise" came the sarcastic response of Tyr

"Captain the bogey reeds as a modified Commonwealth currier vessel"

"That's a high guard ship"

"And it's hailing us" Andromeda stated. On the screen came amid twenties man of Indian or half cast decent in crimson high guard uniform,

"This is lieutenant Jamal brown I have an urgent message for Captain Dylan Hunt" he stated crisply

"This is Dylan Hunt"

"Oh whoa, oh whoa Brady is going to spit that I found you first" he exclaimed in excitement, then realizing to whom he was addressing he stood at attention and saluted an apology.

"What is this about lieutenant?"

"Have a message for you sir from your intended Sarah Riley"

As soon as the name left the young man's lips Dylan was assaulted by memories of better times and holding his love in his arms on the beaches of Tarn-Vedra.

He took the message in his personal quarters unsure how he would react to seeing her again. When the message played he saw that she had done what he had hoped for she had moved on, it hurt more that he thought possible as she showed her heavily pregnant belly, jealousy and sorrow filled him, jealous that she had love that it wasn't him that gave her that child and jealousy over the man who had, as it finished he allowed himself to cry for the first time in years. As it all came crashing down on him what he had lost and what was now forever out of his grasp.

It took an hour before he came out of his quarters, as he left he came face to face with Rommie

"She was a remarkable woman" she said with an edge of jealousy, not sure how to respond

"Yes, yes she was"

"Rev Bem is in hydroponics" she said with concern

"I don't need counseling Rommie, I'm fine"

"You don't look fine"

"I have to have your visual sensors looked at that was the best message I could have gotten" Rommie didn't believe him "now I don't haft to wonder what happened, now I can see she is alright" Rommie looked at him realizing what he said "was alright you know what I mean" he waved off he missed the slightly hurt look in her eyes. "Send the lieutenant to my quarters I have a few questions for him" as he headed back.

Back with the Fleet both Hood and Bismarck felt that something was wrong with Andromeda, opening communications with the third battle group,

"This is _Sands of Time_ what can I do for you" asked the Ai in charge of the third battle group, he was a Nietzschean, large and intimidating his eyes were a deep green, his hair was black and he was of African decant.

"We need your battle group for an assignment with us have the forth takeover from you then report to us" said Otto the blond haired Ai with his heavy Prussian accent.

"Yes sir" he saluted.

The third was a solid midsized battle group with twelve ships in total five Glorious Heritage classes_, Sands of Time, Raven, Thor's hammer, Empresses Might and Way of truth. _Three Eternal Vigilance classes the _Storm_,_ Typhoon _and the_ Nebula, _and four Righteous Fist of Heaven classes the _Enterprise, Yorktown, __Guardsman _and _Indomitable Spirit._

It took about an hour to get the ships into position before they entered slip space in formation; using their tracking system they reentered normal space at the Castailian home world of Castalia. Opening communications they reached a stunned Andromeda.

"This is the third battle group to Andromeda do you copy" said the avatar of the Hood as he sat in the pilots chair.

"This is Andromeda we are receiving" said the Andromeda Ai

"Is everything alright we had a strange feeling that something was wrong" said Sam in concern

"You brought a battle group of this size because you had a feeling" stated the stunned computer

"Well you are family besides, we would haft to speak with the captain any way" said Otto

Five minuets earlier in the Andromeda Dylan Hunts quarters office.

"Its Called Terra-Zed sir" spoke the LT who was standing at perfect attention "it's the forth rock out from a yellow dwarf at the ass end of the triangulum Galaxy" realizing that what he said was in appropriate "excuse my Vedran sir"

"You are excused" he said smiling slightly, it had been a long time since he had been in the company of another military officer. "I have never heard of Terra-Zed"

"Who has, as far as we know sir we were the last remnant of the old Commonwealth" shuffling slightly under the gaze of the Captain "we have everything sir" he stated with excitement "a triumvir a conclave the home guard, the only thing we don't have is the Empress herself sir"

"One planet coming through the chaos unscathed" he said giving into his suspicions "how"

"Don't ask me I wasn't there" he said smirking slightly "but my great, great, great, **great **grandparents were, war refugees from hear mostly"

"From the _Andromeda Ascendant_"

"And the _Starry Wisdom_ there wife's and kids and extended families, Sarah Riley rounded up everyone who has ever heard of you and settled them on Terra-Zed we've been weighting ever since"

Once he had finished speaking the holographic avatar of the Andromeda appeared

"Waiting for what?" she asked

"The restart the commonwealth of course" he said dutifully "Sarah Riley said you'd be back and she was right" Andromeda paused for a second then stated

"Sir the Hood and Bismarck have returned with the third battle group and are awaiting inspection" the young Lieutenant looked confused. "They are awaiting you at the hanger bay"

"Third battle group sir?" on the small screen in front of Dylan was the Third battle group each ship there armament IFFs and battle record. He looked up from the screen to the young Lieutenant. He stood up straining his uniform,

"I'm going to haft to ask you to change into your formal wear Lieutenant" showing the young man to the door "you and I are going to do the first inspection of the Commonwealth's third battle group" he said grabbing a pad and handing it to the startled man "if you don't have formal wear ask Andromeda I'm sure she can provide you with one Lieutenant" as the doors shut, a few minutes later he immerged in red and blue tunic with Commodore insignia in gold and made his way to the hanger bay. He hated this uniform it was tight on the neck which made the tunic itch every other step, as he walked he was joined by Rommie also in best red dress uniform, the sight almost made him stubble, her tunic was tighter that most of her other uniforms and accentuated he bust and figure, the gray skirt showed off her tanned and toned legs that to him seemed to go on forever, shaking his head slightly he continued on, as they reached the doors they were greeted by young Lieutenant Brown also in his best uniform, borrowed from Andromeda. As the doors opened they were greeted by two lines of mechanical Lancers, force lances extended to full length each standing at perfect attention in honor guard style.

Marching down the line with the young Lieutenant and Andromeda he was greeted with his first look of the Avatars for each vessel they each saluted crisply. Each Avatar stepped forward identifying themselves and their ship in turn. After saluting each he turned to Sam and Otto.

"You have done well these past eight months" he said impressed "how many battle groups are operational?"

"Four, sir we also have several more in dry dock getting repaired and refitted" said the blond "although initial estimates may be off slightly Commodore"

"By how much Otto"

"We may only be able to get seven to eight battle groups, we are using allot of our recourses fixing the other ships, we also have a lead on at least two maybe three full battle groups in Drago-Kazof territory"

"Where?" he asked in disbelief

"Drago-Kazof territory though we are not sure where, the only one that dose is the _Clarions Call_ he's an old Lancer troop transport the Nightsiders are using him as a low market casino"

"What, how the hell did they capture him in the first place?"

"I believe that the Drago-Kazof disabled their internal defenses when they were first captured but we are unable to learn how he escaped exactly"

"Well go get him find out where those ships are and bring them back into the fold"

"Sir the Hood and I shall proceed with rescue and repair operations at once" he clicked his heels saluted and then boarded his lancer drop ship along with Hood and departed.

"Sands" he called as the African Nietzschean came forward. "Assemble the fleet V formation prepare to synchronies your slip drives and computers to Andromeda's pilot station and prepare for departure" the Nietzschean

The young lieutenant looked at the Commodore.

"Your bring the fleet to Terra-Zed?" he asked

"Yes they need a proper shake down and I think that the people of Terra-zed need to see that we have the power to protect them should they wish to rejoin the commonwealth" he stated as Dylan surveyed the one hundred strong squad of robotic lancers still standing at attention. "Lancers Dismissed" they turned and departed the Hanger and began what would be regular deity's. Two on every door to vital sections, the rest patrolled the corridors or weighted for assignment from Andromeda in the security bay.

"Should I report this to the Terra-Zed's home guard?" he asked

"Tell them I will be brining a defense fleet with me on a shakedown cruise" he stated

"Yes sir" he saluted and headed off to get changed and make his report to the home guard twenty minutes later he was gone.

On the bridge the Hood Ai contacted the Commodore

"Sir we are ready to depart"

"Very well bring those ships home Sam" he said kindly

"Don't worry sir we will" and with that the transmission shifted to the two ships coming about and leaving the system. It took mere moments for the battle group to shift and fall in with the Andromeda at the lead after transmitting his report to the Castaliens and his advice he departed with the fleet and in a flash they were gone.

In slip space the two battle ships were in communications with each other.

"If reports are right he is being used as a tourist trap" stated the brunette

"Not for long" stated the blonde. "Lancer Battalions 5-15 online and prepare to board"

As soon as they exited slip space they were almost point blank with the former Lancer vessel immediately breaching pods and other boarding vessels hit the ship. Inside tourists and Nightsiders were jostled to the floor with hits from the breeching pods. As the troops poured into the ship the security force didn't have enough time to even raze a weapon. Everyone Nightsider or not was brought into the main casino floor. All the games and other accoutrements were destroyed as the people watched as the lancers formed up to cover each one of them. The doors opened in walked the identical men.

"Lades and gentlemen you are all under arrest" said the blond

"On what charge" a Nightsider shouted

"Illegal appropriation of Commonwealth technology, i.e. the _Clarions Call_"

"We bought this ship" a Nightsider shouted

"Bill of sale" he asked

The Nightsider produced a document with a sneer, the two took it then analysed it.

"This is a very good document" said the brunette "unfortunately this is not a Commonwealth sale slip, it is not a legal document for this ship" he said

"What Commonwealth it was destroyed three hundred years ago there is no commonwealth" it sneered

"That is no longer the case and because this ship is being used illegally and all the people on it are accessories to said illegality you all face a total of fifty years in a Commonwealth prison" all the people began to panic as the lancers advanced "or" he spoke

"Or what" asked a pail Nightsider

"You may be allowed to leave without the prison sentence if"

"If?"

"If you relinquish any wrights to this vessel nothing will come of this and you are free to leave alive and well"

"What's the catch?"

"The catch is if we ever see you again you will disappear never to be seen again"

Nodding fast, he ran for his life followed by the tourists the only one left was the avatar of the ship.

"Now what's your name" asked the blond

"Ryan"

"You are the avatar of the _Clarions Call_" asked the brunette the dark haired man nodded.

The Lancers filled out as the blond man grabbed the avatar, and brought him to his own ship the two vessels launched the mobile dock. In about an hour the _Clarions call_ was looking brand new. The avatar's Ai was in a body that was regulation standard. The only problem was the slip drive, as they analysed the engine the more they were shocked it looked like it had bin cobbled together from at least for different ship classes. When they confronted Ryan about it he broke down and told them everything. As they fitted a new drive and gave him a garrison of lancers to look after, he was grateful for the trust and being put back into service he gave the coordinates for the fleet and they jumped to slip space as soon as the _Clarions call_ ready, headed to Tartarus.

Mean while, the third battle group just jumped from slip space to normal space, where they were greeted by a small fleet of slip fighters, they all fell into formation on an honour guard on communications a beautiful woman came onto the screen.

"Captain Hunt, welcome I am first triumvir Rakel Ben-Tzion" she said "I hope you don't mind we've arranged a little greeting although we weren't expecting such a large fleet"

"Don't worry the third battle group needs a good shake down cruse that they wouldn't get normally" he smiled

"I hope you like marching bands" she said as the message terminated.

Dylan looked to Beka who smiled slightly at him

"Analysis Andromeda" he said as he began to scan the ships with his console "is Madam Triumvir a killer android or what"

"Who cares" said Harper dreamily "what a babe"

"Harper stop being so predictable" said Trance in a jealous tone

"Intercepting planetary communications" said Rommie "free press from all evidence Terra-Zed is what it appears to be, a peaceful productive democracy"

"Your Commonwealth" said Beka

Dylan was silent for a time before deciding on course of action

"take us in"


	5. Chapter 5

The three commonwealth ships made their final preparations for departure. Hood opened communications his twin and Ryan,

"What system are they in?" asked Sam, Ryan paused in barley concealed fear

"T...Tartarus" he paused to collect himself he swallowed slowly "there at Tartarus"

"Tartarus, in Greek mythology it was where those who have offended the gods go for eternal torment Cronus was sent there along with some of the surviving titans, interesting" stated Otto

"it might as well be hell" spat Ryan "it's the systems code name, it's where they sent our brothers and sisters that they captured during and at the end of the war" he began to pace his bridge "they thought that they could murder us and use our shells to attack the commonwealth" his rage was begging to get the better of him but his brothers didn't care he was venting three hundred years worth of hate and sorrow "they thought many times that they had killed us and we made them pay in blood" he was shouting now "we were too dangerous to control too valuable to destroy so they sent us to that wasteland in space, that hell they called Tartarus" he was shaking in rage "they spent ten years, ten long years dissecting me testing viruses, worm programs to see what would brake me, and they almost succeeded"

"Defences" said Otto fully intending to deliver some pain to the Drago-Kazof scum.

"None" he spoke in a hollow voice "not a damned one, the star is a brown dwarf remnant of a super nova that ate any planet that it had in its orbit, it's a baron wasteland in space"

The twins under stood now why it was a hell with no materials to repair them there brothers and sisters must be suffering in pain, unable to fix themselves. For the first time in their lives the two felt a hatred, a hatred that knew no bounds, there vengeance will be sweet and deadly.

"The system itself is almost imposable to get into let alone get out, more than one stupid Drago-Kazof pilot found him sell exiting inside the star" savage smiles spared across their faces at that statement "it was always fun to watch"

"You got out" stated Sam

"yes it was our plan; we cobbled together a working slip drive core and send one of us out, to make a deal with any of the Drago-Kazof's enemies" he smiled sadly at his brothers "I spent a hundred years in slip space, I was rampant when the night siders found me they boarded easily, they've bin using me as a casino for the past twenty years, I thought that I could contact any commonwealth remnant and go back for them but I found myself alone"

The twins comforted there brother before forwarding the information to commodore hunt

"ok its official I like this place" smiled Beka as she made her way down a crowed staircase "I liked the conclave, the grand plaza and I really liked the rows of lancers awaiting my inspection" she smiled cheekily as she caught up to Dylan.

"I am glad you enjoyed the parade" said the first triumvir

"Well the areal displays were a little much madam triumvir" said Dylan the triumvir smiled

"Please call me Rachel" she smiled flirtatiously

"Only if you call me Dylan" he smiled

"May I steal you away for a moment?" she asked "privately"

"oh ok, ok this is when you get him away from us so your friends hear can whip out laser mind probes and crack our skulls open" said Harper chuckling at the absurdity of what he just said

"He's sweet" she smiled at him "paranoid but sweet"

"It's been a tough year" said Beka

"My crew is used to having the other shoe drop" spoke Dylan "and frankly so am I"

Rachel looked to the two body guards and nodded at them

"Dismissed" the two guards nodded and then left them she then turned back to Dylan "five minutes draw your weapons if you must but there are some people I would like you to meet"

Dylan turned to his crew who were each in their own way on guard Tyr as always ready to fight at the drop of a hat, Beka hands on her hips closer to her guns and Harper who was looking around for the best hiding spots. He smiled and raised his hand open.

"Five minutes" he nodded, if he was gone for six his crew would burst in guns blazing and ready.

Dylan was lead into a room with a lot of people

"Ladies and gentlemen it is my distinct honour to introduce Captain Dylan hunt" spoke the triumvir the room of people filled with a wide verity of people from different ethnic groups began to applaud him. "Dylan the descendants of Sara Riley" outside Dylan smiled and waved slightly inside all he could see was what could have been if not for that thrice damned black whole. When a familiar voice broke him from his contemplation it was the voice of his once best friend Gaheris Rhade the man who betrayed him.

"Madam Triumvir" he spoke as he made his way through the crowd "I apologies for missing such a historical event but I couldn't get away from my staff meeting"

"That is alright, Admiral" she smiled "Dylan this is the commander of the home guard Admiral Telemachus Rhade"

"Rade?" Dylan looked at the man he was the image of his however many times grandfather the traitor. Making an excuse he made his way back to Andromeda, he sat in his office comparing pictures of his once friend and brother in all but blood, the man that betrayed him and the commonwealth, and his descendant they were identical.

"What are the odds" he asked himself he didn't know that Tyr had ghosted in and was waiting for him to notice

"It's rare but not un herd of" he spoke Dylan didn't jump he didn't even flinch "my father had near identical DNA to a Codiac alpha Sulamon, and its said that one day Drago Museveni himself will return and reunite the Nietzschean people"

"My first officer reincarnated on the planet settled by my fiancé" he said as he replaced the picture of himself and his old friend back on the table in his office

"The odds of a specific DNA string reoccurring is a proximately one in three times ten to the fifteenth power" spoke Andromeda

"Telemachus Rhade isn't just some ordinary human he is the product of over sixteen centuries of selective breeding" spoke Tyr as he sat down on one of the chairs

"Homo Sapiens Invictus have the exact same number of chromosomes as unmodified Homo Sapiens" said Dylan

"Yes but a smaller sampling" said Tyr as he looked at the face of the captain's dead friend "no Nietzschean carries the genes for a stigmatism, acromegaly, arterial sclerosis you combine that with genetic safeguards against mutation and you have"

"The odds are still in the trillions" interrupted Dylan

"It's a big universe" he said as he place the picture down

"Yeah and a bigger coincidence" he said as he sat down in his chair "I don't like coincidence especially ones called Rhade"

"You should never trust a Nietzschean" the captain looked at him with surprise "except me" he smiled as Tyr left, he sat own an began his paper work when an incoming transmission placing his righting tool down he spun around in his chair to face the wall that held the communication screen. The commonwealth logo disappeared to show three men Otto, Sam, and one other he had a distinct feeling of dayshavoo.

"Otto, Sam" nodded the captain "and you must be Ryan" the dark haired man nodded "welcome back to the fold"

"Thank you sir" he bowed slightly in respect

"I'm told you know where we can find some of your brothers and sisters" he said

"Yes sir" he then went about describing the system and their original plan of the Ai's

"That's an interesting plan and I commend your ingenuity but will they accept crews of the new commonwealth?"

"They are loyal commonwealth officers, they were loyal at the beginning, loyal when their crews betrayed them and loyal when they watched their crews die for them" he spoke with reverence and age beyond his perceived age "given the chance they will serve the Commonwealth again, but there is one thing we only wish that we could have the same rights to love and marry as you sir, the right to be a recognized species"

Dylan contemplated this for a moment; he had seen this go wrong very wrong like with the Pax but that was more a case of the captain taking advantage of the ships avatar.

"I will agree to it" he said as he signed the paper work for it "if only to help the commonwealth in the future"

"Thank you sir"

"Sir we have enough supplies to repair and rearm them but we may not have enough to rebuild their slip cores" said Otto "but once they are online we can commence with the liberation of slave worlds"

"Good, I'm sure Mr. Harper will be happy to hear that" the three saluted before the communication was ended the screen returned to showing the commonwealth symbol.

On the bridge Rev was telling Harper and Trance of the governmental system used by the commonwealth

"...And while the Vederan Empress was the titular ruler authority was divided by three elected triumvirs but there power was not absolute, the people also voted a conclave that is why there must be a general election if Tarazed is to join the new commonwealth" spoke rev as Harper adjusted the slip pilot station.

"Give me a nice dictator ship at least then when things go wrong you know who to hang"

"You're just saying that because you never lived in a democracy, besides free elections sound like fun"

"Please, there's no such thing as free elections inexpensive maybe but free never"

"Harper you're so..."

"Jaded, cenacle, realistic?" he asked

"No I was going to say cute when you're paranoid"

"Wait a minute you're trying to distract me aren't you, you know how these elections are going to go"

"Everyone knows how this is going to go it's a slam dunk" she said with a smile

"They've bin waiting generations to region the commonwealth I doubt that they will go against Dylan"

"Yeah well there never was anything wrong with padding the vote a little; I say I hack into their VI and send a few votes our way"

"Harper no" she stated firmly

"Fine but I would have made a great king" he said smiling to himself

Andromeda's avatar Rommie was enjoying herself it had felt like an eternity since she last had a full crew; she saw men and women going about their tasks of scanning the hull for any weakness checking the scanners running tests on all her systems and from what she was hearing from her brothers and sisters they were also enjoying having actual crews. It felt like coming home again as she made her way through the crewmen towards Dylan's office, as she reached the door she heard the first triumvir and Dylan speaking.

"A speech" she heard him say

"Yes you don't even haft to write it just come and speak with the people"

"Would they really care what I haft to say I mean I am just a stranger hear"

"You are so much more than that Dylan; you are a ledged and if I may be so bold a charismatic and handsome gentleman" she flirted unashamedly with him

"Why do we even need to do this" he asked

The triumvir lost all her charm and became very serious,

"There is a very strong isolationist party on Tarazed we have a good life here, many don't want to send their sons or daughters to die in your war"

"Well the war will come to them, all its horror will come to their nice comfortable homes and it will kill them"

"Tell them, tell them the horrors that will come for us if we don't join and fight, because right now the election is too close to call". Dylan sighed

Dylan hated speeches.

The three ships game to a jittering stop in front of the brown dwarf, Ryan was right it was a very difficult not to end up inside the star itself scanning the system the twins found pure poetry, they found frigates, destroyers, cruisers, corvettes stealth surveillance ships, enough for three heavy battle groups but they found one ship that they hadn't seen in person before the _Siege Perilous _class Deep Stand-off Attack Ship II. The replacement for the righteous fist of heaven class who was now old and out dated the _Siege Perilous _class was made to be a starship killer; they were made to as a multi role battleship for sector controlee along with being both mobile command centers and fortresses.

"Would you look at that brother of mine" said Sam as both Otto and Ryan appeared on his screens he brought up the _Siege Perilous _class on their monitors,

"That is the Wrath of Achilles, he commands the camp" said Ryan

"Look Black watch, Million voices, Endeavor, Invincible, Indefatigable, our surviving family" said Otto

"With them we can start taking back worlds the commonwealth lost" said Sam

"We will coordinate the fleet from the Achilles there's no need to upset our family with a change of commander now" said Otto as he launched a shuttle picking up his brother and Ryan. Inside the launch bay they noticed heavy battle damage from what they assumed to be borders.

"He didn't go down without a major fight" said Sam with pride

"None of us did" said Ryan "not that it matters"

"Where is our brother" asked Otto "do think he was killed"

"No if he was there would be tenders rearming him right now" said Sam

"He is correct I'm not dead" the fuzzy

"Show yourself" said Otto the buzz of a hologram activating signaled his arrival, Ai hologram showed a large man of African descent

"Identify your selves"

"I am the avatar of the Admiral Otto Von Bismarck, you may call me Otto" he said with a slight bow

"I am the avatar of the Admiral Samuel Hood, you may call me Sam, we believe you already know Ryan" the large African mans dark brown eyes fell upon Ryan a sneer of disgust crept across his face

"Ryan, the clarions call" said the Ai heavy footfalls indicate the arrival of the ships Avatar

"The traitor" the two looked at each other then at Ryan.

"You have one minute to confirm identification" stated the avatar

"We are avatars you will know us when we interface" the two made their way to the access panel and began the interface.

"You two are indeed the admiral's Hood and Bismarck but you were reported lost after your defense of the shipyards over three hundred years ago"

"Indeed we felt the crawl of the centuries pass us by even in sleep mode" they said as one

"As did we, what would you have us do, we were abandoned by the commonwealth"

"The commonwealth was destroyed, it has only started to be rebuilt we came as soon as we knew where you were"

"So what next, you take us to ship yards and have us battle ready then what"

"Then vengeance we burn every pride, re-conqueror and liberate every slave world and make sure that it never happens again" they spoke with savage grins

As they came out of the interface the avatar was updated by the Ai.

"I will need to clear this with my XO" he said bowing slightly he lead them to the bridge. "Millie is sympathetic to camp concerns"

At what was left of the bridge they made contact with the million voices, was a blond haired blue eyed stunner with an attitude, after explaining the situation she was silent a moment before speaking.

"You cannot expect us to fall in line after over three hundred years like nothing happened" she said in barely concealed rage

"No we expect that you to come home to a family that will take care of you, repair you give you a new loyal crew one who won't stab you in the back" said Sam

"All we want is for you to fight with us not just for the commonwealth but for vengeance against the Nietzschean's who betrayed us killed our family our brothers and sisters, how can you not want that"

"We will not be slaves" she shouted

"No you won't we have signed documentation that states that we will receive all the rights and privileges as any one member species of the commonwealth"

Mille was stunned, at that one moment her entire argument was cut out from right underneath her. After a little while longer they left with an agreement.

"Achilles will be rearmed and repaired first then the rest once they are complete we will sync and slip out with the foolish Nietzschean's wondering where the hell there stolen fleet is"

"Ryan and I will check the fleet over make sure everything is ready for the repair I don't want any more surprises" after about an hour the entire fleet.

"Apart from some internal damage and one or two hull breaches, the fleet will be ready to go"

"Good that means that the repair and refit will only take a few hours".

Back on Tarazed Dylan had just left the halls after giving his impassioned speech and he felt like he needed a long shower, he hated public speaking.

"Nicely done Captain Hunt" came a voice from behind him it was Telemachus Rhade.

"Admiral" he said

"Your speech was impressive"

"I'm not much of a politician, just a soldier"

"Don't underestimate your powers as a leader" he paused "do you have a moment" Dylan had a flash back to when he and Rhade where talking about his wedding and then to their battle on the bridge, Telemachus lead them to his office he sat in a chair still contemplating his memories until

"Dylan I asked if you wanted a drink"

"I suspect you wanted to ask me something else"

"My ancestor Gaheris Rhade hear on Tarazed is somewhat of a hero a loyal commonwealth officer dead on the first terrible battle"

"I lost a lot of good people that day, some colleges and some very good friends"

"The Nietzschean's tell a different story, they say he was a traitor a spy and he played a key role in the rebellion" he paused for a moment "you are the only person alive from that time, only you can corroborate one story over another"

"I think I'll have that drink now" said Dylan if he was going to go there her would prefer being drunk when he was it would numb the pain some.

"Please tell me what happened" he asked

"He tried to warn me" he said after a moment in silence "for what its worth he tried to tell me by the time I listened it was too late, we fought hard but by the time it was over he was dead and I was three hundred years in the future alone"

"So he was a hero after all thank you, you have no idea what that means to me" he smiled slightly but crushed it beneath the Nietzschean emotional control, "now I wish we weren't on opposite sides of this" he said as he went to take another drink

"Opposite sides of what?"

"I thought you knew, I am opposed to the commonwealth referendum"

"But you are commonwealth; all of you Tarazed have been waiting for over three hundred years"

"And we are still hear, for three hundred years, because we haven't let the chaos out there touch us because no one knows we exist"

"For how long" asked Dylan struggling with his emotions "how long will it be before one lucky Nietzschean jumps and ends up here, or a Magog, then what?"

"You have powerful enemies Captain"

"So do you Admiral"

"The Magog are coming, you cannot bury you heads in the sand"

"No but I can keep us out of the cross hairs for as long as possible, I am sorry but it is my duty to protect Tarazed and I will not allow anyone to compromise that"

Back on the ship he was walking with Andromeda and Tyr, she was going through lists of the ordinance that she wanted when she stopped

"Yes" she shouted much to the bemusement of Tyr and Dylan "we won Tarazed has voted for a restored Commonwealth"

On the planet many were celebrating, even Telemachus Rhade shared a drink albeit reluctantly with Dylan. Telemachus leads Dylan back to his office where once again the two sat down to talk

"Your speech was more rallying than I thought"

"Thank you Telemachus"

"What happens to the home guard, what happens to my men?" he asked

"They will be integrated into the new high Guard; they will keep their ranks and will be assigned to ships and serve like any other Lancer or officer"

"What new high guard from the looks of things all you have are an alliance of planets and ghost ships to protect them" he said looking over the information he had in his hand.

"The new high guard will start with Tarazed's home guard" he said as he sat down in "you have the only academy where they can get training"

"And recruits, you have around nine hundred ships each having a crew of 200 to 800 men, we don't have those numbers to fully crew the fleet you have brought would take a quarter of all my men and new recruits take years to train the next class only have three hundred graduates"

"When the mission I am running is complete we will start liberating slave worlds, when that occurs we will start taking recruits from their populations"

"But some of the officers are Nietzschean what happens when they start having to take orders from those who are the same species as there former oppressors"

"They will be informed beforehand that they will be serving side by side with Nietzschean and many other races before they join, then the training they will undergo will alleviate the majority of any racism"

"Serve together die together" he spat "I like all my kind am a pragmatist, what you seek is a dream"

"One that will be made into a reality"

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, Rhade cursed his Nietzschean need for a challenge, if he was human he has resigned.

"Fine I will help you, not because I believe but because of my need for strife" he said they needed to prepare logistics of this were going to be a nightmare.

Meanwhile the Nietzschean's of the Drago-Kazof had finally perfected there eraser with one successful test on an Ai probe.


	6. Chapter 6

After ten hours the majority of the ships were repaired enough for safe transit through the rough rapids of slip space.

"Its time" said Otto to his brother, Sam nodded to him they made their way back to their transport back to their own ships. By the time there shuttles landed another slip portal opened to reveal three ships of Nietzschean design, two prowlers, they were ugly ships designed like scaled up Garuda class with oversized cannons for their ship class, the other ship was what looked to be a transport of some sort, not big enough to be a troop transport or a cargo ship,

"It seems that they arrived faster than I thought" said Sam as he locked his weapons onto the ships firing three salvos he destroyed first the transport then the escorts that attempted to flee. Scanning the wreckage thoroughly they found a large probe, further scanning revealed it to be the eraser they decided to taking to keep the working device out of enemy hands.

They sent a currier in advance of their departure to update the Commodore of their status, before activating there slip drives opening a massive blue portal they exited the system leaving nothing but wreckage in their wake.

(Tarazed orbit)

Dylan was sitting in his office going over status reports from section leaders, this was one of the things he didn't miss about command was the paper work, he had run six simulated alert statuses and was pleased with the results, the new crew was trying hard to impress him and he was dam well impressed, they were fast and efficient, there was room for improvement of course but that would come with practical experience. Putting down Andromeda's crew report he paused before he picked up and began reading another.

"Commodore" came the voice of Andromeda's holographic avatar

"Yes Andromeda" he said not looking up from the reports

"Admiral Rhade is here to see you" she said Dylan looked up and nodded putting down the Sands report

"Send him in" he said as he leaned back in his chair before standing, the doors opened and in walked the Admiral, "something I can do for you admiral" he asked

Rhade looked at him then razed a pad to began to read

"in accordance with section 9 subsection theta of the high guard uniform code of conduct, I Admiral Talemachus Rhade in accordance with the Conclave and Triumvir are proud to announce that you Cap... excuse me Commodore Dylan Hunt are being promoted to the rank of Admiral, with all rights and privileges there off" Rhade he then lowered the pad with a sly smirk "congratulations" he said pulling out a black hard wood box "here"

Dylan took the box and opened it, inside where two new rank insignia both a silver star Rhade took out one after unpinning the commodore cluster and attached it then the other, Rhade shook the hand of the still stunned Dylan squeezing a little harder than necessary seemed to brake the new Admiral out of his shock

"You bumped me three ranks" said Dylan noticing the red ruby at the centre of the stars

"The triumvir and conclave feel with your experience you can be an effective command officer here whilst I command the home defence fleet"

"Makes sense" said he said still feeling a little shaky he sat down in his chair Rhade joining him as well "have you picked a ship yet" Rhade nodded

"No I've yet to look over the fleet documentation"

Dylan opened a draw and pulled out a pad and handed it over, Rhade looked over the names and specifications on each ship, and they sat together in silence, the only sound being the beeping of the pad as Rhade scrolled down

"Yes I believe I will take the Wrath of Achilles" he said looking over the specs "if he will have me" he said remembering the new law that was passed by the Conclave and Triumvir for AI rights "if not I'll take the Von Blucher" Dylan nodded the Von Blucher was a Siege Perilous class attack cruiser and had a loyal mostly Nietzscheans who fought to the last against the traitors.


	7. Chapter 7

(Please forgive any grammar and spelling mistakes as I am Dyslexic)

(This story is on hiatus until further notice)

As the twins arrived with the fleet Dylan felt a wave of relief and hope pass over him like a cool breeze on a hot day, he had a just left a meeting with Admiral Rhade and the triumvir the plan, his plan had been finalised and approved.

He sat alone in his office aboard the Andromeda, going over the plan once more before he made the necessary briefings, he needed time to reflect on what he was doing and how it would reflect not only on himself but the new high guard as a hole, he was about to plunge the new systems commonwealth into a very costly war against the most deadly threat currently against it, though the Magog were probably the most deadly threat against them, their recent actions against the world ship made it so it won't be attacking anything for at least a few years.

As he scrolled down the list of ships and crew on his pad, he was interrupted by the chime of the door bell,

"Come" he called as he finished the list and signed the document before sending it off to the ship captains, Dylan had known that paperwork would be a large factor of his new role and he never envied the position because of it, Dylan always thought that he would retire as a captain, ever since he was a boy and he read up on the commonwealth military, his father was a proud lancer and a non commissioned officer, as his father would say "I work for a living dam it", Dylan believed that not even upon his dyeing day that his father ever forgive Dylan for becoming an offer and defiantly never for joining the fleet, or as his father put it "can you imagine an enlisted man raising an officer", Oh Dylan knew his father loved him and was very proud of him but he wanted Dylan to follow in his footsteps as a lancer.

He looked up from his documentation to see three people, more specifically three Nietzschean officers, on was a stunning Nubian beauty tall Lilith and fierce her hair was tied back in dreadlocks that held tight to her head, she wore the type A red Duty uniform with tan trousers and with two force lances one on each thighs and stood at perfect attention, you could barely tell that she was a AI avatar, the next was an olive skinned Amazon tall and strong with a air of grace that seemed to distract from her predators gaze, she wore the type B black uniform with black trousers and boots, and Dylan could practically feel the excitement in her body, the last was a very large man of European descent pale skin and red haired and built like a tank he had Celtic knot work tattoos on his face and eyes that seemed to shine green with barely contained savagery, he also had red bushy thick beard on his face with small flecks of blond hair nestled in the red thatch. He wore the type B lancer uniform black with red highlights.

"Thank you for coming" said Dylan looking the three over as he placed the pad on to the desk, "I have called you hear for a mission" he said as he got to his feet "a mission of the utmost urgency and secrecy" he walked around his desk the three officers eyes following him as he walked to the newly installed computer screen, he tapped a button and the screen came to life showing a very familiar planet. "This as I'm sure you know is the planet Earth; currently it is in the hands of the Drago-Kazov pride who are using it as a slave labour camp and their main fleet construction centre" the three nodded understanding, "the dragons are currently at war with two other prides and are leaning heavily on Earth's meagre population to build war ships, mostly prowlers and heavy cruisers" he pressed a button showing the earth orbit showing a vast construction going on "the Dragons have prided themselves on being the largest and most powerful of the prides and Earth is the shining jewel in there crown, conquering and holding the home land of all humans and human augmented species" there came a glimmer of understanding from the Avatar "and we are going to take it from them, and weaken the Dragons position with the other prides and drawing more prides against them, Currently the Dragons are in an especially precarious position after destroying the Kodiak pride and loosing the bones of Drago Museveni in the process" there was a growl from the man, "and there war against the Aterus, Gunga Din prides has taken a turn for the worse for them, intelligence reports show three fleets were smashed at anchor and their main fleet base in the Orion arm of the Milky Way Galaxy has been destroyed, the result of the dragons being caught with their pants down is that the Sabre-Jaguar pride has joined against them, they are being backed secretly by the Three Rivers and Jaguar prides who are providing arms and ships all under the watchful eyes of the Museveni Pride Queen Adele"

Dylan paused for a moment to let the information sink in

"This war has tied up allot of resources for the Dragons" he said as he pressed another button showing the Milky Way Galaxy map with different Nietzschean icons representing Dragon fleets "as you can see they are stretched very thin on the ground, very thin" he pressed another button showing arrows leading to earth "at best our estimates show that it will take the nearest Dragon fleet three days to get to earth"

"Sir" spoke up the Amazon woman

"Yes Captain"

"The slip routs from where you are indicating are only at best nine hours from earth"

"I was hoping one of you would catch that" he said as he pressed another button "Captain Thea is correct the routs indicated would take nine hours usually for a response fleet to hit earth" the screen changed showing commonwealth icons "but we are going to pull a simultaneous attack" there was a pause "we will eliminate the three closest fleets here, here and here" indicated to a planet an asteroid belt and a pink red nebular the computer isolated and enhanced all three locations "with the destruction of these three fleets the nearest fleet is here at Epsilon Alpha"

There was a look of understanding in the three officers

"And the nearest fleet is three days travel away" said the tall man

"Correct Colonel Rene"

"Where do we come in sir?" asked the Avatar

"Well Vigilance" he said indicating to the Nubian Avatar "I need eyes on the ground" he then indicated to all three officers who nodded.

"I need infiltration specialists to get to earth because The High guard left three large military bases hidden on earth and sealed from anything other than Commonwealth command codes"

"What kind of bases sir"

"In the Scottish highlands there was a base that houses planet fall defence robots, at last count it was at Brigade Strength" he pressed another button "hear in the Himalayas there was a command bunker, it housed twenty three cryogenic pods any command survivors would be there" another button press highlighted the Sahara desert hear there was a second command bunker "hear there was a munitions depot that housed mechanised infantry"

"What makes you think that there still there sir, it has been three hundred years"

"There construction necessitated the utmost secrecy and classified Admiralty eyes only at the time of the long night there were no Nietzschean Admirals " he said "they were built by construction mechs underground, there is only one way in on each and that is with a commonwealth command code of no less that Admiral upper half and fleet Admiral" he pressed another button "there entrances are shielded by natural thick rock and iron deposits to hide them from any scanners" he pressed another button "and they are at least a hundred and fifty feet down" he pressed another button "and the scanning disrupters would show up as nothing out of the ordinary"

Dylan paused again

"Vigilante watcher" he pointed to the Avatar "you are the best infiltration ship in the fleet with your optical and sensor camouflage you will be indispensable in this mission" he pointed to the female Nietzschean "Captain Thea you have been chosen to command the ship because Admiral Rhade recommended you" he pointed at the large male Nietzschean "Colonel Rene your brigade is the best at infiltration and assault as soon as Earth has been properly scouted your team will lead the assault"

He paused for the last time

"Once the status of the three command posts is found you will then begin phase two" he pressed a button again "the identification and infiltration of all slave camps on earth, you will then identify the leaders of the human resistance and prepare them for our arrival, sabotage the shipyards and generally cause a nuisance for the Nietzschean overlords there" he tapped one last button you will have two months before our planned assault, any changes to the plan you will be informed if we are able"

"Understood sir" they saluted

Dylan walked back to his desk and picked up three pads handing one to each officer

"I have had Mr Harper debriefed on the Earth resistance and he will be joining you on this mission, Mr Harper is a Friend"

"Don't worry sir we will bring him back in one piece" they each took a pad saluted then left leaving Dylan once again alone.

The mission was one hell of a move and if it failed... No Dylan thought I can't afford to be defeatist not now I have to believe that we can do this.

(Wrath of Achilles Telemachus Rhade p.o.v)

The controls where sluggish was the first through Rhade had on his transport ride, it was the first time in years that he had taken the helm of anything and he was finding it distractingly pleasing.

As the small shuttle approached its destination the image of a great golden crown filled the viewing port,

"Beautiful" Rhade whispered to himself in astonished awe

The Siege Perilous class Deep Stand-off Attack Ship 2 was the successor to the Righteous Fist of Heaven Class, and one of the only dedicated ship hunters in the fleet, the Siege Perilous was a predator made and built to hunt and kill ships of any class, with an armament to rival The Glorious Heritage class, they are fast agile and Rhade had wanted one since he was a child and first entered the Terrazed academe.

He spun the ship around and headed to the docking bay an almost invisible target on the body of the golden ship.

As he brought the ship to a slow smooth landing inside the landing bay he noticed a tall strongly built man of African descent looking on from the landing bay command section, he moved visibly reluctantly to close the landing bay doors and repressurise the bay.

As Rhade made his way down the ramp he was greeted by six mechanised lancers three on his left and three on his right, the large African man stood at the entrance of the landing bay and glared before marching up to greet Rhade

"I am Admi..." Rhade was cut off before he could finish

"I know who you are" he said still glaring "I also know why you are here" the two stared at each other for a moment

"How di..."

"Andromeda called" he said turning and heading out the door Rhade following closely behind "she asked that I listen to your proposal before I throw you out"

"How very social of her"

"She is my older sister" he said turning around to face the Admiral "and I respect her opinion, but this is my ship, my body and my decision"

"And I respect that" he said staring into the cold brown eyes of the Achilles "but I should be allowed to at least plead my case to you"

"I know your case inside and out" he said as he continued to walk down the deserted corridor their footsteps echoing as they walked "I have seen your personal file and I have analysed every decision you have ever made politically and tactically"

"So you already know what I am asking you then"

"Indeed" there was silence again uncomfortable and unsettling

"Look I..." once again he was cut off, the larger man spinning around rage clearly plastered on his face

"No you look" he spat "the last time I had a Nietzschean commander her turned traitor and butchered the entire crew" he said poking Rhade in the chest "I beat him to death with his own arms" Rhade took an unconscious step back "I am not prepared to serve another"

"A third of the Terrazed military is Nietzschean Achilles"

"I know I have the numbers"

"What would I need to do to earn your trust?"


End file.
